All Those Yesterdays
by Summoner Luna
Summary: He was her best friend, and it was possible she loved him. XX Part 6: AerithxLeon. xx Aerith pairing series. xx Searching for her light. XX
1. Memories in Pieces

Standard disclaimer applies. Also, while not necessary, knowing a thing or two about FFVII & VIII will shed light on some of the references made :)

* * *

Leon was the first person she met, after arriving in the strange town with nothing but the faint memory of a name. He found her as she wandered in the alleys, wondering at how the moonlight made her skin look transparent, touching her hand to a phantom pain in her stomach.

He'd asked her if she was real, and she hadn't known how to answer.

She remembered blushing though, under his intense stare, and that if she let her focus slide a little bit she could almost find a memory in his face. She had reached out to him, brushed her hand against his cheek, and he had flinched but did not pull away.

He had wings painted on his back and she thought he was her angel, but she learned not to call him that because the one time she did he tensed up and disappeared for several hours.

He introduced her to Cid and Yuffie, and they stirred within her the same blurry memories as Leon, but stronger, and she thought that maybe he only reminded her of someone, when she actually knew the others. They said they did not remember her, but when they first met Yuffie clung to her tightly and left tearstains on her dress, and even gruff, all-business Cid held onto her shoulders and stared at her with wet eyes before coughing and mumbling a greeting mixed with how he needed to get back to work.

Leon was quiet and cold, but she loved his company anyway. She would follow him when he went to the caverns to train, and she found she could hear voices in the echoes of the water. When she wasn't listening to those, she would speak to him, trying to force out answers longer than one word, trying to make him laugh. She learned about Hollow Bastion, and how he and the others were from there but they weren't sure if it was their real home. That he knew there were other places and other people buried in his past, but he had no memories of them—just a feeling. That he blamed himself for the destruction of his home (homes?), and that he was waiting for a warrior who carried a weapon called a "keyblade" to arrive, because that warrior would be the one to restore peace.

She told him what she learned from the voices in the water—about the heartless and a man named Ansem, that Hollow Bastion had not yet disappeared, whenever a planet did disappear. When he would trail off in the middle of a story, she would hug him from behind and whisper in his ear that it was okay to be sad and that he should never give up hope, and when they were with the others and he was silent and broody she would chide him for not speaking his mind.

He was her best friend, and it was possible she loved him, if not for cloudy memories telling her it was wrong.

He kissed her, once, after they returned to Hollow Bastion and the war was over. They stood outside watching the skies, finally able to look at the planets without wondering when they would go out, and she saw a shooting star. She turned to him and pointed at it, her face telling a mix of awe and childlike fascination, remembering stories about shooting stars and destiny. He had given her a look then, one that scared her because he looked so far away, like he didn't know where he was or even who she was, and then he had pulled her to him and kissed her.

She wanted to enjoy it, tried so hard to lose herself in it, but all she could see was that look in his eyes and she finally pushed him away, turning around to hide the tears she could never seem to control.

When she finally spoke, all she said was "I can't be your angel too," and faced him. He was him now, back under the stars at Hollow Bastion, looking at her with embarrassment and gratitude and a little bit of love, and she truly wished it didn't have to be this way.

This time he hugged her from behind, and told her she should never give up hope, not after she finally convinced him.

And then the next day, she met Cloud.

* * *

This is part of a set, I suppose...I know I at least will write one between her and Cloud, though I haven't decided if there will be a third part to it or not (which, ironically, would be of the pairing I originally intended for this to be, though a pairing I doubt anyone will guess!).

I completely blame cosplay for why Aerith now manages to find her way into everything I write (well, and Crisis Core, since we get to see yet another side to her)...Thanks for reading:)


	2. Shrouding Dark Cloud

_Part 2, in which I take full advantage of the fact that SE has yet to make any clear canon backgrounds for the SE character relationships ;-)_

* * *

She was in the library because Leon and Yuffie said they wanted her to help them find something, when Cid walked in with the boy with a red cape and spikey blond hair. He called her over, and she swore she heard him say to the stranger, "It's really her." 

They walked towards each other and as she looked up at him she felt a jolt in her heart, as though one of the missing pieces was struggling to work its way back home: she thought it must be because he was the one she had been searching for. She knew him, somehow, and she thought that he might know her.

He was a lot like Leon--quiet, brooding. But where Leon was trying to make up for his past by endlessly devoting himself to the restoration, Cloud was still trapped in his. Leon, though sultry and introverted, stayed with the group, laughing at Yuffie and poking fun at Cid, making an effort to redeem himself in this life. Cloud kept to himself. She had been able to help break Leon out of his shell--when she spoke, she knew he was listening, and over time he even began speak back, at least when they were alone. Cloud, was the opposite.

He seemed...almost happy, when he arrived. He had greeted her in the library and steered her away from the expectant faces of their friends where they could talk without an audience, and in those moments and the days that followed, _she_ was happy. But now, he was distant and cold and grew more so each day. He helped with the restoration and trained with Leon, but he did not go home with the group like he had at first, did not interact with them unless necessary--she and Leon were the only ones he still spoke with, and she wondered how much longer that would last. She wanted to help him--he seemed to be carrying a tremendous burden that kept him weighed down, but he would not let her discover what it was.

She asked him if seeing her made him sad, since he never seemed to smile anymore, and he replied that meeting her here was the greatest happiness he had in this world.

But still he searched, and she realized, so did she.

She knew Cloud, of that she was certain. But he was not the one she sought, and the further away he pulled, the more she found herself faced with that fact. She knew in the way she began spending more and more time with Leon, or in the way she simply wandered around, a lost child. She knew in the way Cloud appeared to her in dreams, with Leon's hair and a distorted voice and spoke to her of rain and flowers.

She tried to tell herself the Dream Cloud actually _was_ Leon (who loved her flowers), and she only saw Cloud because he knew her and he made her feel so different from the others, and she wanted so desperately for him to be the one to tell her who she was.

She eventually confronted him, her patience with wandering and waiting finally worn away; telling him to stop running from her and everyone else, and whatever happened to the Cloud who'd first arrived here anyway?

He told her he was searching for his light. That when Cid found him, he'd taken him to Hollow Bastion and told him he thought he knew who he was searching for. That as soon as he saw her, he'd remembered knowing her before, but that she also reminded him of a great sadness. That he wanted her to be his light, but the closer they became, he began to feel a strange guilt--that she wasn't his, and she belonged to somebody else, somebody he couldn't betray; that he could tell the one he sought was searching for him, but he still wanted to protect her and couldn't leave her behind.

And then he'd looked at her and smiled in a goofy, apologetic sort of way, and her very first memory came back to her.

"We met in a church."

And his eyes widened and he said her name, his smile growing brighter before he pulled her gently towards him and kissed her forehead, and she didn't have the heart to tell him that in her memory he had Leon's hair and she couldn't see his face.

* * *

_I'm not sure how long I will keep this going...Originally I had just planned three of these that would only be loosely tied together, and while I have no intentions of turning this into a novel or anything, there may actually end up being a little more structure than I normally manage :)_

_ Apologies for this one, CloudxAerith is always a little difficult for me to write. The next pairing is not one I had planned, or even one I would have expected, but one of which there is surprisingly little in KH!verse--at least, compared to its popularity elsewhere ;) _

_ Thank you to those of you who have reviewed so far...I truly never expect reviews when I post these little things, so your kind words mean so much to me :) _


	3. One Winged Angel

_My first time ever writing this pairing (KH or FFVII verse), so bear with me :) _

* * *

She met him on the other side of the ravine, walking there even though she knew if Cloud and Leon found out they would have forbidden it. They always told her not to go there when, had they really understood anything, they'd have known their stringency only increased her curiosity. She'd always gotten so close, though...she knew they fought there a lot and she supposed they were only trying to protect her, but though they always felt the need to defend her she could take care of herself.

Then she met _him_, and she knew the real reason they were trying to protect her.

He was standing on a cliff, overlooking the ruins of the castle when she walked from the Great Maw. He was tall and strong and she knew he must be powerful, but she approached him anyway.

He spoke before she was halfway to the ledge, startling her because even Leon wasn't that perceptive and he had known her the longest (or at least, the longest in her memory). All he said was her name, and he spoke without turning around, his voice echoing through the crystal walls and evoking a strange memory inside of her that filled her all at once with fear and fascination.

She kept her pace, walking until she was standing beside him, and turned towards him staring until he finally met her gaze. When he spoke again, all she could do was listen.

She told no one of their meeting. He did not ask her to keep it a secret, but something told her the others wouldn't approve--Leon was always protective, over anyone, and Cloud...well he didn't always show it, but so was he. And she didn't know what kept her from telling Cid and Yuffie, but somehow she knew they wouldn't like it...would tell Cloud and Leon, whether they let her know about it or not.

She didn't see him often, and when she did, always in the same place. He was like her--he remembered nothing about his past--or, so he claimed. But she thought he might remember Cloud, because she mentioned him once and he acted very strange, frantic almost, like he was keeping some great secret. She wondered about their past, and if they had known each other. After all, if they both had known Cloud, surely they'd met at some point?

But he said nothing, as he said nothing about so many things. He was a mystery, and she thought that must be why she liked him--his silence was different than Cloud and Leon's--it was...unnerving. Leon had opened up over time, and though he wouldn't talk about them, she knew Cloud just wanted to keep his secrets. She could read them--but she couldn't read him, and she wasn't sure she wanted to, because his silence was frightening and she somehow thought if he did speak, if he did tell her about his past (their past?) it would be more than she could handle.

She blamed Cloud for the reason he left, though he was always an enigma and would have left anyway. She met him on the cliff overlooking the castle ruins and he told her it was over, that it was for her safety, and he didn't know what would happen if they ever saw each other again. She didn't argue, because she knew--had known all along--that he was forbidden anyway, that he was dangerous. She merely nodded, and brought her hands to the growing pit in her stomach as though grasping at a wound, and he covered hers with his own and kissed her, their hair intertwining in the wind.

They did not exchange goodbyes as she walked away, and she never told anyone about their affair. She was already certain she was betraying not just them, but some part of her own past, and she preferred to remember him in this life only.

* * *

_One of the pairings that wasn't supposed to be in this set, but...she met him instead of the person she was supposed to meet next :) I like this pairing much better in Kingdom Hearts than in VII though, so I'm happy she ran into him...hopefully you are too :)_


	4. The 13th Reflection

_First off--once again I truly want to thank those of you who have reviewed--writing is something that I do for fun, but it is always nice to know that people are reading it...I truly do not deserve your kind words :)_

_ Second, just to clear some things up since I have an unfortunate habit of being cryptic and confusing...while all of these stories are related, they are related in series moreso than a traditional story...Aerith is, to me, extremely adaptable to just about any pairing you could put her in since she is so multi-faceted...and I've always seen her as being rather lonely beneath her cheerful exterior, so I'm kind of focusing on that. Add to it her ending in KHII and that she's constantly surrounded by other people (Cloud included) talking about going to find their light, I figure...she needs to find hers as well :) So there isn't really one exact pairing for this (yet), more of just her journey._

_And finally, this pairing is just something I thought of one night, and actually the whole reason for this story even though I've since realized the part he plays in her journey must only be brief :)_

* * *

There was music drifting through the alleyways and she was determined to find it, because it was a sound she had never heard--a strange, watery sound, like echoes off the cavern walls back in Traverse Town. She knew she must have heard it before, but listening to it dance through the ruins it was exotic and exciting and nothing like Cid's guitar or Merlin's harp, or any of the odd assortment of noisemakers Yuffie brought home or the music she always played. 

She finally located the sound, the musician tucked away in a small crevice of rocks and ruins, sunlight streaming in through the cracks and a trickle of water flowing beside his seated form. He had blond hair and wore a black cloak, and though his back was turned to her she could tell his face was young, lost in time and music.

His song sounded sad and mysterious, notes bending and stopping and then running together, all overtop a soft chorus of strings. It sounded almost like a voice.

She applauded when he finished, and he jumped and yelled a bit, nearly dropping his strange instrument. He scrambled away from her holding out his hand, and black emptiness formed in the recesses of the crevice.

She called for him to wait, and to her surprise, he did.

He was different, different from all the others. He was energetic and youthful like her--unafraid to talk about his emotions. She could tell he had secrets, but with him, she felt no need to pry--she sensed somehow that with his secrets, she really was better off not knowing--that he refrained from telling because he was bound by some code or system of honor, not out of mistrust of fear or a need to protect her.

He asked about her day. He asked about the people she knew and what she did when they were apart, and paid attention to her in a way nobody else ever had.

She'd known from the beginning, as she had known with Sephiroth, that he was not the one she sought, but she found that with him, she didn't care. With Leon she felt safe and with Cloud she felt peace, but with Demyx she was happy and at ease. When they walked together she could take off her shoes without a lecture, and would lay with her head in his lap while he played with her hair, and when it rained he would join her in standing in it, staring silently at the sky with closed eyes and open hearts.

It no longer bothered her that Cloud would leave without a word or that some nights Leon would go watch the stars alone. She wondered if they even noticed that she had stopped her efforts to tear down their walls, and that she spent more and more time away from the group.

When Sora came back, a tension sprung up between them that frightened her in a way neither her memories nor Sephiroth had, and more frightening was that even Demyx lost some of his glow when she mentioned it. He told her that things were going to get very difficult very soon.

When the heartless stormed Hollow Bastion, she saw him from across the battlefield. She was running with Yuffie towards a fresh onslaught and she felt the air electrify in the subtlest of ways and looked up to see the tail of black robes disappearing towards the town.

In a hushed, hurried moment she ran to him, and he pulled her into a crevice; the same one in which they had met, and he finally told her who he was and what he had to do.

She only listened, because in some way she was not surprised, even when he said he'd been sent there to stop Sora. He watched her with caution, and she knew he was waiting for her to run now that she knew the truth, but all she did was reach out, holding him against her in a way that felt so natural, a way that was maternal and intimate and allowed her to give him the emotions she'd suppressed for so long amongst the stoic, hardened men of Hollow Bastion.

He broke their embrace, and she knew she would never see him again--Sora was strong and poured his entire heart into battle and he would be facing a heartless shell fighting against his better judgement. She kissed him, gently, and he smiled at her, winking and pointing from his (heart) to hers, never losing the spark in his eyes even as he stepped into the darkness that would forever take him away.

Leon and Cloud noticed the change in her after the battle, but this time, it was she who needed time alone.

* * *

_Yup, this whole thing started out as an AerithxDemyx oneshot, but she kept meeting other people instead :D And there is remarkably little with this pairing out there, so you all are now charged with writing them because they are just too cute together :)_


	5. Old Friends, Old Rivals

_Extra disclaimer: This is not meant as a pairing, at least not in a traditional sense. Sometimes there is more love in friendship than romance. _

* * *

In the rain she liked to let her hair loose so it would fall over her like a blanket, shrouding her face and clinging to her arms and enveloping her in a watery feeling that was familiar in some way but not quite. She wondered if she had done that in her old world, but when she asked Yuffie about it the younger girl stopped dead still and stared at her for the briefest of seconds before shrugging and running back inside. Yuffie had always hated the rain, but Aerith was puzzled by the moment of hesitation--puzzled enough, to where she decided it was safest not to bring it up again.

She was not one to give up hope, but she wondered if her memories would ever come back. All she had was the image of that boy who looked like Cloud standing in a bed of flowers in a church, and the glimmers that lit up in her mind around some of her new friends (glimmers and fear, because she would still think of the silver haired man not with longing, but regret, because she was sure he was the key to something significant and if she could only remember that things might start to make sense).

But she still loved the rain, sitting in it from the top of the town listening desperately for the voices she sometimes heard. She never understood them here the way she had in Traverse Town, but they were there (and she pretended not to notice when they sometimes fell in the alleys like the echo of strings).She jumped when the voice finally came, not from the rain but from somewhere nearby, and she turned, brushing limp strands of hair from her upturned face to see the figure of a woman standing beside her. A girl with dark hair and dark eyes whose face was soft and inquisitive and quickly turned to shades of fear, shock, and uncertainty in a way that made even Yuffie look subtle.

She thought by now she would be used to meeting the people who had once been a part of her life, but she found herself yet again with new emotions, different from Cid and Yuffie, from Cloud, and from Sephiroth, and as the seconds grew she found tears beginning to collect in her eyes at the sight of this stranger.

"How are you..." The girl whispered, kneeling down to her level and reaching a hand to her face, brushing her hair back in a way that reminded her of a mother and a sister and a best friend all at once.

She closed her eyes at the woman's touch, searching for a memory, any memory, that might tell her why she was so important. Were they related? Were they friends? For some reason she reminded her of a little girl...had she known her as a child (had she been _her_ child)? She felt the girl pull back her hand and opened her eyes, her own confusion mirrored in those of the stranger, mingled still with love and sorrow (why did everyone seem so sad when they met her?).

They stayed that way, letting the rain beat down on them, a lifetime of loneliness passing though, and when she finally felt like she couldn't take it anymore the dark haired girl suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, clinging to her as though afraid she would slip away into the winds of memory, and she realized her arms were around the girl's waist in a similar desperation.

She felt tears on her shoulder, hot amidst the rain and wind, and felt more than heard the whispers, "I miss you so much," before the girl pulled away, kissing the tips of her fingers and pressing them to Aerith's forehead, running the same hand through her hair and letting it trail through pale fingers as she turned to leave.

She stared past the road that had taken the girl away until the rain began to slow and the sunset started peaking through the clouds, distant memories shrouded behind a screen of iridescent green. When she finally stood, she touched her hand gently to the place where the girl's fingers had graced her with the impression of a kiss, and smiled a bittersweet smile. Whether sister or friend (because she was certain it had been one or the other or both), it was a love different from anything she thought possible; a love so strong that even just the dream of a memory was enough.

* * *

_ She can only have so many of the guys leave her before she just needs a friend, you know? I think this is nearing completion now...barring any unexpected meetings, and as long as Aerith behaves herself as I attempt to write them, I think there are only going to be two more chapters. Thank you so much to those of you who have been so loyal to this little thing...hugs You know who you are :)_


	6. Fate of the Unknown

_It's funny the evolution stories can sometimes take...I never planned on this being multi-chaptered in the first place, and then once I realized it was going to be did not plan on re-using any pairings...but this one just works so well that it came back entirely without my consent :)_

_ Repetition is entirely deliberate, and I apologize in advance for the overuse of double entendres :)_

* * *

Leon was the first person she met, after arriving in the strange town with nothing but the faint memory of a name.

The memory came to her often, until it became much more than just a memory. She had met so many people since then, but that first meeting, the meeting with Leon...she hadn't known it at the time, but it had set the course for her second life.

Cloud and Sephiroth were gone now, along with the woman she knew she should...knew she _needed_ to remember. She had told Cloud she would wait for him, but she often wondered why. Did he even want her to wait? Would things truly be different, when (and if) he ever returned? She reached out to him so often only to have him push her away...but it was always the same person to lightly squeeze her shoulder when she returned alone. Steel blue eyes watching her with a hint of compassion she didn't think he let anyone else see.

Leon was the only one to notice the change in her demeanor when Sora had charged in, shouting about Cloud and disappearing into the air with that man with a wing and silver hair and how he _knew_ he shouldn't have told Cloud but he did anyway and he was sorry. As Cid and Yuffie had closed in on Sora, Leon was the one who pulled her outside and leaned against the wall, silently, knowingly, until she finally confessed. He was not disappointed or upset as she expected, merely relieved (and she realized the look on his face before hadn't been anger over her discretion, but fear). This time she did not receive a comforting hand to her shoulder, but found his arms around her, holding her against him as though afraid she would disappear if he were to let go.

Demyx...she found she always stopped the thoughts of him before they got very far. She found it curious that he claimed to be without a heart, but had been capable of so much love...No, not for her, she was not so naive, but for life itself. He made her laugh in a way so familiar, his own innocence and childlike observations causing her to see things in a completely different way. He was light when everything around her was dark and no keyblade or Organization would ever convince her otherwise, even if her own mind knew it couldn't be true. Demyx was the first time she turned from the others, when she locked away her secrets even from Leon no matter how much she hated to see how helpless he looked when she wouldn't let him comfort her.

But, he had wanted to, in his own Leon way. Cloud had tried, of course, and she would always appreciates his attempts at solace, but even then it was only in Leon's half-smile that she felt that glow of affection...the glow that finally reminded her that no, Demyx was not _her_ light, the glow that she felt when she first woke up in Traverse Town and met the boy who would become the locum in her dreams.

The boy who found her crying at the top of the town and had only to look into the distance to _know._ Who once again held her and silently stroked her damp hair and whispered words she couldn't understand until her tears and gaspy breathing finally slowed. He carried her back to the house, then, wrapping blankets around her and staying by her side until she sunk into the exhaustion the encounter had caused.

He was her best friend, and it was possible she loved him. Her dreams and memories shifted until the boy who spoke of rain and flowers now only whispered words she couldn't understand, running a hand through the hair that was Leon's and smiling on a face she eventually stopped trying to see.

She was sitting on the floor reading out lout from one of Merlin's books of faraway lands with Mist and Summoners and a Red Moon, when one of the fairies carried in a letter and dropped it into his hands. Her words, seconds before light and adventurous, turned cold and guarded and she felt as though time itself stood between her and the man leaning against the wall. He stared at the sheet of paper with an expression she hadn't seen on him since that night after the first War, and watched with him the iridescent wings, a shimmering and delicate replica of his own she had asked about so long ago.

She never saw the paper fall from trembling fingers, or the way his eyes trailed from the ceiling to the book that now lay open and alone on the floor of the house, the slamming of the door as it closed behind her drowning out the sigh of emotion he'd only ever allowed one other to hear.

* * *

_Probably just one more installation left unless something entirely unexpected happens. _

_ Once again, thank you for the continued support :) _


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